"Thus it is said that one who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements."
Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

War on Terrorism

Monday, September 17, 2012

Dempsey: U.S. Must Remain Engaged with Muslim World

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT – The recent anti-American demonstrations that have occurred in many
Muslim countries “demands for us to be more engaged, not less engaged,” the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today during an aircraft flight from
Sibiu, Romania, to Ankara, Turkey.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said the
situation is the most complex he has seen since becoming chairman.

In Libya, a coordinated attack on the
U.S. Consulate in Benghazi resulted in the deaths of four Americans including
the U.S. ambassador to the country. There have been anti-American
demonstrations in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Pakistan and many others.

While the spark that ignited the
demonstrations was a crude video that denigrated Islam, there are several factors
that have contributed to rage against the United States, the chairman said.

The chairman wants to learn from the
situation. “At some level, I think what we are seeing are societies that have
been suppressed,” he said. “They have not had anything like freedom of speech
or even the ability to congregate.”

Security forces in these countries are
for the first time under civilian rule, and are less likely to intervene unless
directed by political leaders, the chairman said.

And, he said, there are often power
struggles within the countries.

“Some of those groups are truly
anti-American and radical and violent,” Dempsey said. “Certainly you have these
groups that are anti-American, who are extreme, who are competing for power in
the country.”

These extremist groups often did not
accumulate the number of votes they’d thought they would get in free elections,
Dempsey said. Such groups that experienced failure at the ballot box, he added,
could “now try to gain some traction around the idea of being anti-American in
order to gain influence for themselves. These groups are trying to manipulate
the population.”

Now is not the time for the United
States to withdraw from these countries, the chairman said.

“It demands for us to be more engaged,
not less engaged,” he said, “so that we can counter that message of extremism
that is being propagated by these violent, extreme organizations.”